Married Louise Hawkins in 1885 (d. 1906); married Jean Leckie in 1907; had two children,
by his first marriage and three by his second.

Educated at Edinburgh University (B.M., 1881; M.D. 1885).

Served during the Boer War as chief surgeon of a field hospital in Bloemfontein, South
Africa (1900).

Knighted in 1902, in response to his pamphlet defending British actions in the Boer War.

Career

Early professional work included being a physician's assistant (in Birmingham), a ship's
surgeon on voyages to the Arctic and the west coast of Africa, a physician (in Portsmouth)
and an ophthalmologist (in London); gave up the practice of medicine in 1891 and supported
his family on the income from his writing.

A prolific writer, who wrote in virtually every prose form; never quite happy with the
fact that his fame rested primarily on his creation of Sherlock Holmes.

Lectured on spiritualism in Europe, Australia, the United States, Canada, South Africa,
and Sweden.

In addition to the Sherlock Holmes stories, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 12 novels, 6
historical novels, nearly 20 collections of short stories, about the same number of plays,
and poems, histories, political pamphlets, and innumerable works on spiritualism.

Of possible interest:New York Times online archive--a review of Daniel
Stashower's book Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle (New York, 1999).
The review, "Sherlock Holmes's Maker" by David Walton, also provides
access to the first chapter of Stashower's book. The chapter, entitled
"The Empty Chair," describes Doyle's attempt to return to Royal Albert Hall in
London after his death and present a lecture to a crowd of 6, 000 believers and
nonbelievers.